Municipal signal apparatus



(No Model.)

J. 0. WILSON. MUNICIPAL SIGNAL APPARATUS. No. 411,407. Patented Sept. 1'7, 1889.

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. lTl itted.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN 0. WILSON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE MUNICI- PAL SIGNAL COMPANY, OF PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

MUNICIPAL SIGNAL APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,407, dated September 17, 1889.

Application filed July 13, 1886. Serial No. 207,864. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN C. WILSON, of Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Municipal Telegraph Apparatus, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like letters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention has for its obj eot to simplify the construction of a municipal telegraph system of the class shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 34:4,et67, granted to me June 29, 1886.

In accordance with this invention, one receiving-instrument is employed at the central station to record the various signals, and an audible alarm is also employed at the central station to indicate whether the signals being received are important signals,demanding immediate attention, or patrol-signals, not requiring such attention. The multiple transmitters at the sub-stations are constructed and arranged to transmit the different kinds of signals by changes of different duration in the condition of the circuit, the operation of the transmitters being effected substantially as in the patent referred to. At the central station two relays are placed, constructed and arranged, substantially as will be described, to respond to the changes of different duration in the condition of the circuit, to thereby effect the operation of the recording-instrument, or both the recordinginstrument and the audible alarm, according to the character of the signal being trans- The central station is also provided with a pole-changer and a signal-transmitting apparatus set in operation from the distant station, to thereby cause an audible alarm to be sounded, or a visual signal to be brought to view at the said distant station to give 110- tice to the officer at the box that something is wanted, a suitable switch under the 0011- trol of the attendant at the central office being employed to determine whether or not the said signal transmitt-ing apparatus at the central office shall transmit its signal.

The drawing shows in diagram the instrum cuts at the main and sub stations, and a sui table arrangement of circuits to carry out the invention, herein to be described.

The sub-station A is provided with a multiple signal-transmitter consisting of a series of break-wheels a, mounted upon a shaft a, and rotated one revolution at a time by any suitable motor. (Not shown.) A series of pens a secured to a frame or bar a are arranged to be brought in contact with the breakwheels at, one at a time, by the lugs or projections a of a selecting-cylinder a apointer 132 being secured to the end of the selectingcylinder a and moving over a suitable dial upon the face-plate of the box. A, to thereby determine which pen a shall be brought in contact with its respective break-wheel a, such multiple signal-transmitter being substantially such as shown and described in United States Patent No. 331,356, granted to me. The break-wheels a of the multiple signaltransmitter are notched to transmit the dif ferent signals desired, some of which-as, for instance, the important signals-being transmitted by breaks or changes of short duration in the condition of the circuit, fol lowed by or preceded by a change of long duration, while others-as, for instance, the patrol-signalsbeing transmitted by breaks or changes of short duration only, this result being effected by the notches of differcut length out in the periphery of the break wheel. The multiple signal transmitter of each sub-station is included in the main circuit 2 of the battery B at the main or central station. Two relays are included in the main circuit, one of which, as b, is adj Listed as in ordinary district telegraphy, that its armature may respond instantly to any change in the condition of the current, and the other, as c, is'adjusted with its ar1na o ture close to or in contact with its cores, in order that the said armature, while being responsive to the changes in the current, lags considerably, so that it will not respond to such changes instantly, or, in fact, not at all to changes of short duration, such as dots, but only upon changes of long duration, such as dashes. By bringing the armature closely in contact with the cores of the relay the resid ual magnetism exerts a retarding force or re- 10!) straining influence upon the armature, this restrained armature being an essential feature of my invention. The armature of the relay 5 controls a local circuit 3, leading from a battery 13, said local circuit including a receiving-instrument (1, herein shown as an ordinary Morse register, and also areleasingmagnet e, and a switch f is introduced co-opcrating with the branch wires 4 5 to shunt the releasingmagnet when it is desired that the same shall remain inoperative. The armature of the relay 0, herein termed for distinction a lagging relay, controls a local circuit 5, leading from a battery E the said local circuit including an electro-magnet g, the armature of which when attracted releases a drop h. The said drop h, when re leased, closes a local circuit 6,leading from a local battery B said local circuit containing an audible alarm, herein shown as an ordinary vibrating bell V.

When the transmitter at the sub-station is operated to transmit a patrol-signal, or a signal requiring no immediate attention, the condition of the current is changed successively for short intervals of time. The armature of the relay 1) responds to such changes, and the receiving-instrument (1 records a series of dots. \Vhen the transmitter at the sub-station is operated to transmit an alarm signal, or a signal requiring immediate attention, the condition of the circuitis changed for a long interval of time followed by or preceded by a series of short changes, and in such instance the lagging relay 0 will respond, causing the audible alarm to sound, while the relay b also responds in order that the signal may be received by the recording-instrument d, it recording a dash, followed by or preceded by a series of dots. Thus it will be seen that upon the reception of an alarm-signal, or one requiring immediate attentiomthe audible alarm will sound to denote the fact, while upon the reception of any other signal, as a patrol-signal, or one requiring little or no attention, no alarm will be given. As the drop h falls, a closed circuit 12, leading from a battery 15, is broken, the said circuit containing an electro-magnet n, which controls the movements of a polechanger P, also a break-wheel 19, mounted upon a suitable shaft and operated by asuitable motor, (not shown,) a contact-pen p, for said break-wheel p, the drop h, and the armature of the electro-magnet g. The motor controlling the operation of the break-wheel 19 is released by the armature of the releasing-magnet e, located in the main circuit. As the pole-changer P is vibrated by the opening and closing of the circuit by the break-Wheel p, the main battery is reversed and an impulse of opposite polarity passes over the line to the sub-station and operates a suitable polarized signaling-instrument or bell S, located at each sub-station, thereby giving notice to the officer at such station that he is Wanted, and he immediately communicates with the main office by telephone to ascertain what is wanted,

The operation of this portion of the apparatus is as follows: Should the officer at the main station desire to call an officer at one of the boxes, he opens a switch f to include the releasing-magnet e in the main line, and wheneventhe transmitter at one of the boxes is operated to transmit a patrol-signal the armature of the relay 1) will respond, closing the local circuit 3, and the releasing-magnet e will attract its armature, thereby releasing the motor of the break-wheel p, and as said break-wheel revolves the circuit 12 will be opened, successively releasing the armature of the magnet n, herein shown as a pole-changing lever, which may be of any suitable construction, to thereby cause an impulse of opposite polarity to pass to the main line at the sub-station or box, and thereby cause the po larized bell S to respond. Thus it will be seen that as an officer transmits his patrol-signal, if anything is wanted of him, the bell S will respond to denote the fact. WVhcn no officer is needed, the switch f will remain closed. Should the switch f be opened to permit a return-signal to be transmitted to the substation upon the reception of a patrol-signal, and an alarm-signal should be sent in, the armature of the relay 0 will respond, as well as the relay b, and the drop h will fall, as previously described, and by breaking the circuit 12 the magnet n will not operate, although the releasing-magnet 6 will permit the breakwheel 19 to revolve, and under such circumstances no return-signal will be transmitted. Thus it will be seen that, as herein shown, upon the occurrence of an alarm-signal no return-signal will be automatically transmitted, but only upon patrol-signals, and only then when the switchfis opened; but I desire it to be understood that I do not limit myself to such arrangement, as it is obvious that it may be reversed at will.

It is obvious that instead of transmitting the alarm-signal by a series of changes in the current of short duration, followed by or pre* ceded by a change of long duration, the entire signal may be transmitted by changes of long duration.

I do not herein claim in an electric circuit, the transmitting apparatus constructed and arranged to produce a series of changes of short duration in the condition of the circuit, and a prolonged change combined with a receiving-instrument responsive to such changes in the circuit, and an audible alarm responsive to the prolonged change only, substantially as described, nor do I claim in an electric circuit connecting two stations, circuit-controlling devices at the transmittingstation for changing the condition of the current to produce impulses of short and long duration at will, combined with two receivers located at the receiving-station, one of which responds to the impulses of short duration and the other responds to the impulses of long duration only, substantially as described, as the same is not of my invention.

I claim- 1. In an electric circuit, a signal-transmitting apparatus constructed and arranged to produce a series of changes in the circuit of long and short duration, and two relays connected in said circuit, the armature of one of which is acted upon by a retarding force, thereby rendering it responsive only to the changes of long duration, and the armature of the other of which is unrestrained and thereby responsive to all changes in the circuit, substantially as described 2. In an electric circuit, a signal-transmitting apparatus constructed and arranged to produce a series of changes in the circuit of long and short duration, and two relays connected in circuit, the armature of one of which is acted upon by a retarding force, thereby rendering it responsive only to changes of long duration, and the armature of the other of which is unrestrained and thereby respons ive to all changes in the circuit, a receivinginstrument controlled by that relay having the unrestrained armature and which is responsive to all changes in the condition of the current, and an audible alarm controlled by that relay having the restrained armature, which is responsive only to changes of long duration, substantially as described.

In an electric circuit, a transmitting apparatus located at a sub-station and constructed and arranged to change the condition of the current for intervals of long and short duration, a relay located at a main station connected in said circuit and responsive only to changes of long duration in the condition of the current, an electro-magnet and drop controlled by it, a local circuit controlled by said drop, and return-signal-transmitting devices included in. said local circuit, and another local circuit also controlled. by said drop and containing an audible alarm, substantially as described.

at. In an electric circuit, a transmitting apparatus located at a substation and constructed and arranged to change the condition oi; the current for intervals of long and short duration, two relays located at a main station and connected with said circuit, one of said relays being responsive to all changes in the condition of the current and the other re sponsive to changes of long duration only, a releasing-magnet under the control of the re lay which is responsive to all changes in the condition of the current, and a return-signal transmitter controlled by it, and an electromagnet and drop under the control of the re lay responsive only to the changes of long duration, the said drop being included in circuit with the return-signal transmitter, an

electro-rnagnet included in circuit with and responsive to the return-signal transmitter, and a pole-changer operated by said electromagnet to thereby eii'ect the transmission of the return-signal to the sub-station, substantially as described.

5. In an electric circuit, a signahtransmitting apparatus located at a sub-station and constructed and arranged to change the condition of the current for intervals of long and short duration,two relays located at the main station and connected with said circuit, one of said relays having its armature acted upon by a retarding force to thereby respond to the changes of long duration only, the other relay having its armature unrest-rained to thereby respond to all changes in the circuit, a releasin g-magnetunder the control of the relay having the unrestrained armature, and a circuitchanging device for sending the return-signal released by the releasingqnagnet, substantially as described.

6. In an electric circuit, the combination, substantially as described, of a signal-transmitting device at one station constructed and arranged to produce changes in the circuit of long and short duration, with two relays, the armature of one of which has a retarding or restraining force acting upon it, a register, and a return signal transmitter controlled by the relay whose armature is not retarded or restrained, and an audible alarm and circuitbreaker controlled by the relay whose armature is retarded or restrained, said circuitbreaker, when operated, rendering the circuit containing the return-signal. transmitter inoperative.

7. In a police-signal system, an electric circuit connecting a main and a sub station, a signal-transmitting apparatus at the sub-station constructed and arranged to produce changes in the condition of the current for intervals of long and short duration, a register located at the main station responsive to all such changes in the condition of the current, and a relay also located at the main station and connected in said circuit, the armature of which is acted upon by a retarding or restraining force, rendering it responsive only to changes of long duration in the condition of the current, and an audible alarm or indicating signal also located at the said main station controlled by said retarded or restrained armature, substantially as described.

In-testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

Jenn c. WILsoN. 

